Heather Orom

Dr. Heather Orom is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo. Her research focuses on illness risk perception, health information avoidance, and health equity, with applications to cancer prevention, chronic disease management, and social determinants of health.

• Education: Postdoctoral Fellowship at Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute, PhD in Social and Personality Psychology (University of Illinois at Chicago), BA in Comparative Literature (Marlboro College)

Dr. Orom’s research explores how uncertainty in risk perception affects health behaviors, strategies to reduce health information avoidance, and systemic inequities in healthcare access. Her recent work examines interventions like humor and video-based communication to improve colorectal cancer screening adherence and address disparities in populations such as Black men, low-income communities, and immigrants. She also investigates the role of social determinants in sleep health and HIV prevention barriers among Ghanaian immigrants.

Professional affiliations include the American Public Health Association, Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the African American Health Disparities Task Force. Dr. Orom teaches courses on health equity and leads initiatives like the Micro-credential in Strategies for Eliminating Health Disparities.